Chemical and Process Engineering 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

DOI: 10.24425/cpe.2021.138933

Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments,

dilemmas and practical examples

Andrzej I. Stankiewicz1 , Marek Henczka2 , Eugeniusz Molga2∗

1 DelftUniversity of Technology, Process and Energy Department,

Leeghwaterstraat 39, 2628 CB Delft, The Netherlands
2 Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering,

ul. Waryńskiego 1, 00-645 Warsaw, Poland

Dedicated to the memory of Professor Jerzy Bałdyga

This perspective paper focuses on the changes in teaching chemical engineering in Europe triggered
by new challenges and megatrends observed in the chemical and related industries. Among the new
teaching areas to address those challenges and megatrends, process intensification, digitalization and
advanced materials are expected to play the most important role and are discussed in more detail.
The discussion on incorporation of those new areas in the university curricula is illustrated with a
comparison of educational approaches to the chemical engineering teaching at two universities – Delft
University of Technology and Warsaw University of Technology. The aim of this paper is to focus the
attention of university teachers and potential decision makers on the most important challenges for
contemporary teaching of chemical engineering.
Keywords: teaching of chemical engineering, teaching dilemmas, challenges and megatrends in
teaching

1. INTRODUCTION

Chemical engineering has been changing throughout the years and so has been changing its teaching as a
scientific discipline. Originally based on the “unit operations” paradigm initiated by Arthur D. Little and
presented for the first time in the famous Principles of Chemical Engineering textbook by Walker et al.
(1923), it focused primarily on studying the major equipment for chemical manufacturing, including its
construction and performance. Consequently, chemical engineering teaching until 1960’s included a heavy
mechanical engineering component and had often been offered by mechanical engineering faculties. In the
early 1960s, this unit operation paradigm was largely replaced by the “transport phenomena” paradigm
marked with the publication of the textbook Transport Phenomena by Bird et al. (1960). That new
paradigm brought important changes into university curricula. Momentum, heat and mass transfer became
core topics, accompanied by mathematical modelling and simulations thanks to the fast development in
computational infrastructure. Further developments that occurred in the last decennium of 20th and the first

∗ Corresponding author, e-mail: Eugeniusz.Molga@pw.edu.pl https://journals.pan.pl/cpe

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attri-
bution (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
0 and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

two decennia of 21st century, with rapid growth of interest in bio-based processes, biomedical engineering
and nanotechnologies, have introduced again significant changes in the profiles, and even in the names of
former chemical engineering departments.

With university teaching restricted to a maximum of five years for the BSc and MSc levels together, the
main problem in teaching chemical engineering (and of course in any other educational process) is related
to the following fundamental dilemmas: “what to teach?”, “what depth to teach?”, “when to teach?” and
“how to teach?”. A solution of this problem is not a trivial one as the challenges are continuously changing
due to the rapid changes in technology, science and society worldwide.

Chemical and related industries remain the primary destination of university graduates of chemical en-
gineering and when talking to the industry about what kind of knowledge and skills the graduates they
recruit should possess, one often hears: “teach them good fundamentals, the rest they will learn within
the company; do not teach them your research hobbies”. Yet, the same industries are facing various global
challenges and megatrends that will change and define their profiles and activities in the coming decades.
Think of sustainability-related challenges, such as decarbonisation, electrification or circular economy.
Think of “Industry 4.0” with its digitalisation – Artificial Intelligence, machine learning or robot-assisted
processing. Think of new, advanced materials (e.g. for medical applications) and the related new manufac-
turing approaches, such as 3D-printing, or about distributed manufacturing in modular plants with remote
control.

Does the academia have to anticipate all those upcoming developments in chemical industries and adapt
the teaching curricula in chemical engineering accordingly? And how? In this paper we will enlighten and
discuss some paths that might be worth following.

2. TEACHING DILEMMAS

The activities of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering Working Party on Education (EFCE
WPE) have been helping over decades to identify effective solutions for education in chemical engineering
at European universities. Therefore, before starting considerations on the future of education in chemical
engineering, a short survey of its previous decisions, studies and achievements within this field should be
summarised.

The fundamental paper The education of chemical engineering in the third millennium (Gillet, 2000a)
written at the beginning of the third millennium under the auspices of EFCE WPE indicated the challenges
for chemical engineering education and particularly dealt with how to implement the elements of sustainable
development, which has been broadly introduced in that period. In the above paper, the results of 1994
WPE survey of chemical engineering curricula in European universities have been discussed, in order to
identify a core curriculum and provide guidance on what to teach chemical engineers at the first degree
level. The summary report on the chemical engineering core curriculum, compiled by J.E. Gillett from
the report by J. Tracez to the Scientific Committee of the EFCE in 1994 and updated in 2000, can also
be found in his subsequent papers (Gillett, 2000b; Gillett, 2001). That “core curriculum” representing
about 50% of all courses given in Europe, has been suggested as a common objective to all chemical
engineering programmes at European universities. Such a curriculum is particularly important for the
European Union, where a professional title “chemical engineer” should correspond to a similar type
of education and competence in all Member States, while the existing teaching programmes had been
covering a wide range of different profiles (Tracez, 1994, Pohorecki and Szebenyi, 1997). However, the
core curriculum should be seen as a guideline only, not as an obligatory recommendation to be followed
at all universities.

322 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

The first-degree curriculum can be divided into three major parts:

• basic science (mathematics, computer use, physics and chemistry),
• engineering core (thermodynamics, physical chemistry, fluid mechanics, transport phenomena, unit
operations, chemical reaction engineering, plant design, equipment, materials, process dynamic and
control, chemical engineering laboratory, safety and environment),
• electives (in depth studies of special subjects).

Since its introduction, the European Union’s Bologna Declaration (EFCE, 1999) which introduced three
levels into the education programme (BSc, MSc and PhD), became a new European challenge in higher
education. The European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) very fast decided about its attitude
towards the Bologna Process, then during the next years the Working Party on Education of the EFCE pub-
lished several papers and statements, e.g. Molzahn (2004), EFCE (2005, 2010, 2020), Pohorecki (2003).
The last one successively updated became the official EFCE document, called the EFCE Bologna Recom-
mendations, which is now a much-used guideline for shaping chemical engineering degree programmes
and harmonising higher education in Europe. EFCE welcomed and supported the aims of the Bologna
Declaration and the main purpose the EFCE’s recommendations is to ensure that graduates who have
completed a chemical degree possess the skills required for chemical engineering practice. This includes
knowledge of fundamentals but also competences beyond engineering science – e.g. working in teams and
across borders. Times change very fast, so the need to adapt now is as great as ever – it is enough to mention
globalization, digitalization and last but not least the experience resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic
and an unprecedented demand for social distancing – see EFCE Bologna Recommendations 2020 (EFCE,
2020). Therefore, along with the usual dilemma “what to teach?” and ”how deep to teach?” special em-
phasis should nowadays be put on the question “how to teach?”, as the on-line teaching, including even
virtual or/and remote laboratory classes, became the method almost equivalent to traditional ones.

3. NEW TEACHING AREAS TO ADDRESS CURRENT AND EXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS

3.1. Sustainability, electrification and Process Intensification

Sustainability is the leitmotif in teaching Process Intensification (PI). The first MSc-level courses on PI
started in 2003 at Delft University of Technology, and meanwhile have been introduced in a number of
other universities (Fernandez Rivas et al., 2020a; Fernandez Rivas et al., 2020b). The current teaching of
Process Intensification according to the Delft methodology supported by the recently published textbook
(Stankiewicz et al. 2019) links PI directly with primary challenges of sustainable development, such as
decarbonisation and the use of renewable electricity, lean energy processing, material efficiency and waste
minimization. During the course students get familiar with the four elementary PI-domains in equipment
and process design: spatial, thermodynamic, functional and temporal (Fig. 1).

In the spatial domain students are taught the benefits in terms of process efficiency resulting from the
elimination or minimization of randomness inside the processing equipment space via the application of
structures. Structures at various scales are presented and discussed, starting from nanostructures addressing
molecular interactions (e.g. nanostructured catalysts, molecular reactors), through structures addressing
heat transfer (e.g. microchannel heat exchangers and reactors, millireactors, plate heat exchangers), struc-
tures addressing mass transfer (e.g. structured packings and catalysts), to structures addressing mixing and
fluid flow (e.g. micromixers, static mixers, fractal distributors). Consequently, issues related to modular-
ization and modular plant design are discussed in this part of the course.

In the thermodynamic domain the use of various energy forms and transfer mechanisms is explained,
including the energy of electric and magnetic fields (e.g. microwaves, plasmas, UV), energy of flow (e.g.

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 323
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

Fig. 1. Principles, domains and scales of Process Intensification. Adapted with permission from Van Gerven and
Stankiewicz (2009). Copyright (2009), American Chemical Society

in ejector or impinging-stream systems) and the energy of rotation (e.g. in rotating packed beds and
spinning disc or rotor-stator reactors). An important element discussed here is the concept of a future
chemical processing plant using renewable electricity as a primary energy source. This includes also the
related issues such as renewable electricity generation, short- and long-term energy storage and recovery,
control of renewable electricity-based processes, or region-dependent plant design.

Synergy is the keyword in the functional domain and students are taught how to combine different functions
within one process step or equipment, in order to achieve a synergistic overall effect. Heat-integrated
reactors, reactive separations and hybrid separations are the most important categories of functionally
integrated operations discussed here. Again, sustainability-related benefits including higher product yields
and lower energy consumption in downstream processing are shown for each of the technologies. On the
other hand, the pitfalls and constraints of functional integration related to the loss of degrees of freedom
and to the existence and size of the operational feasibility window, as well as the ways of dealing with them
are discussed.

Finally, in the temporal domain, the methods of manipulating the duration/characteristic times of events
and the purposeful introduction of dynamics (periodicity, oscillations) in process systems are reviewed. An
important element in this part is the switch from batch to continuous, oriented towards efficiency boost and
waste minimization in pharmaceutical and fine chemical processes conventionally run in the batch mode.

The lectures on Process Intensification in Delft are followed by a case-study project, in which student
teams are requested to conceptually re-design a processing plant using PI approaches and technologies
learned in the first part of the course, in order to make the process safer and more environment-friendly.
During the introduction to the case-study students are additionally familiarized with the basics of Inherently
Safer Process Design. Re-designing the infamous Union Carbide’s Bhopal carbaryl plant or Flixborough
cyclohexane oxidation plant serve here as standard assignments.

3.2. Digitalization

A significant role of digitalization in the contemporary world, and therefore also in the chemical industry as
well as its impact on chemical engineering profession and education is highlighted in the recent excellent
review by Feise and Schaer (2021). First, for clarity their explanation of fundamental difference between

324 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

digitization and digitalization is worth mentioning. Digitization is just performing something in a digital
space or transforming any process from an analogue to a digital format (a good example are digitally taken
and stored images), while digitalization is an operation with digital data.

Digitalization transforms the chemical industry very fast and covers the entire activity related to production,
logistic as well as the connection with suppliers and customers. Feise and Schaer start the discussion about
the impact of digitalization on teaching and learning chemical engineering presenting a milestone in the
approach to education in the digitized world – i.e., five theses developed at the 57th Tutzing Symposium
(2018):
• knowledge of fundamentals remains indispensable even in digital era,
• digitalization requires continuous evaluation and reconstruction of curricula,
• development of a demand-oriented education system for the digital age,
• digitalization enforces life-long learning,
• digitalization requires better interaction and communication skills.

Then, discussing the content of new teaching programs that would prepare students for the digital era, they
refer to six areas of competencies indicated in the EFCE Bologna Recommendations (EFCE, 2020):
• knowledge and understanding,
• engineering analysis,
• engineering design,
• investigations,
• engineering practice,
• transferable skills,
• making judgment (social, ethical, technical, and financial aspects),
• communication and teamwork,
• life-long learning.

Finally, Feise and Schaer conclude with recommendations concerning the teaching content in the digital
age. These can be summarized as follows:
• numerical methods are becoming increasingly important, so future engineers should be familiar with
commercial codes, but also able to develop new ones,
• artificial intelligence can help to adapt and optimize processes in real time, so there is a need for
graduates to know the appropriate tools,
• future engineers have to train themselves throughout life to follow changes,
• chemical engineering discipline still expands to new fields, so graduates have to be able to extend
methods and tools of chemical engineering to these new areas,
• communication, critical analysis, team work and problem solving are necessary in the contemporary
world, so they have to be continuously practiced and improved.

An important aspect of digitalization is that it can be creatively utilized for development of chemical
engineering tools and methods. For example, due to progressive digitalization of chemical industry (called
Industry 4.0) a huge number of data acquisition systems collect experimental data taken from huge numbers
of processes, units, and plants. Formerly, those data were used exclusively for the documentation of the
process history. However, they contain a lot of useful information, often quite hidden, because paradoxically
the more data are registered the harder is their direct legibility. That hidden information can be extracted,
for example, using artificial neural networks (ANN), as models based on ANN exhibit the rule-following
behaviour without containing any explicit representation of those rules (e.g. see Molga, 2003). ANNs and
neural models have been known for many years, but nowadays due to digitalization their application can be
particularly attractive and efficient, as they can utilize all those collected experimental data. Due to abilities

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 325
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

of ANN to approximate any non-linear dependence without explicit knowledge of this dependence they
can be particularly useful for data analysis and transformation, process dynamic (control tasks) as well as
modelling complex functional dependencies, e.g. unknown kinetics of complex reaction systems (Molga et
al., 2000). Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on neural models utilizing collected experimental data can be
very helpful for on-line control of very complex systems and processes as well as robot-assisted processing
– e.g. see Unnikrishnan et al. (2021) and Christofides (2020–2021). Additionally, ANN can be very useful
in advanced modelling, particularly in multiscale modelling, the importance of which increases due to the
developments in nanotechnology and a need for modelling processes at the nanoscale level. ANNs make it
possible to efficiently transmit the results from the nano-scale to the larger micro and meso-scales – among
others see Molga and Westerterp (2013) as well as Xiao and Ni (2021).

Large storage capacity and continuously increasing speed of modern computers is here particularly propi-
tious, also in view of the fact that the number of commercial codes available for neural computations is still
growing. The need to include the fundamentals of neural computations in core curricula at both bachelor
and master levels has been clearly articulated in the relevant literature, e.g. by Kakkar et al. (2021).

Since March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the academic community has been facing extraordinary
challenges caused by the immediate shutdown of face-to-face contacts and shift to the on-line learning.
It was particularly difficult in case of teaching chemical engineering or even engineering in general, as
a quick transformation of traditional teaching laboratories into remotely operated virtual ones was not
an easy task. A high level of digitalisation of transformed laboratories proved here indispensable. This
relatively fresh phenomenon has already been quite widely described in the literature, for example in the
Special Issue of Education for Chemical Engineers, where a series of papers entitled Digitalisation in
Chemical Education and Training has been published (Liauw et al, 2021). In those papers, among other
things, innovative approaches to the on-line teaching are described and discussed, while the presented
analysis is usually based on both, teacher observations and student surveys. One of the papers, a review
written by Bhute et al. (2021), presents emerging approaches to virtual, remote or combined methods. The
value of these approaches was based on such factors as: learning outcomes, availability of resources, used
technology, scheduling and cost. The authors highlighted that a positive experience acquired owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic should be adapted to everyday “regular” teaching practice and core curricula in the
post-pandemic world.

The implementation of practical teaching activities, such as laboratory classes, is the greatest challenge
for the on-line learning. Due to the pandemic restrictions, laboratory classes at numerous universities have
been carried out either in the form of recordings of laboratory exercises performed by teachers or in the
form of live experiments carried out by single students with other team members following the experiments
through the Internet. Such forms have enabled active participation of students in practical exercises and
the acquisition of intended learning outcomes.

3.3. New advanced materials

Nanoscience and nanotechnology as well as functional materials with tailored properties present one of
the fastest growing areas of engineering and technology, having a major impact on global production
and economy. During the last decades nanotechnology has expanded and flourished with a wide variety
of applications. Also, the functionalization of materials is very often carried out and controlled at the
nano-scale. Because of those developments it is essential to include nanotechnology in the educational
curricula.

A pioneering approach to the application of chemical engineering principles in the design of nanoscale
processes and nanoengineering has been presented in the book by Elnashaie et al. (2015). The book shows

326 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

from the chemical engineering viewpoint how to integrate the fundamentals of nanotechnology with a
detailed explanation of specific nanoscale processes and educates the readers about nanoscale process
design, simulation, modelling and optimization.

As an example of introduction of nanotechnology into chemical engineering curriculum we describe

hereunder a new track at the second-cycle studies: Nanostructured Product Engineering, lunched in 2019
at Warsaw University of Technology and offered within the School of Advanced Chemical and Material
Technologies, a joint initiative of three faculties: Chemical and Process Engineering, Chemistry and
Materials Science. As a part of their didactic activities, students use the research infrastructure of the
Graphene Laboratory at the Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering. Due to the convergence of
initial knowledge in the areas of engineering and chemical technology and materials engineering, the
School also implements an identical program of the first year of full-time first-cycle studies at the three
faculties mentioned above, which also rationalizes the teaching activity of the Faculty in the economic
context.

Nanostructured Product Engineering track covers the key issues related to nanotechnology. The class En-
gineering of Nanocatalysts provides the basic information on nanocatalysis, preparation and separation
methods, on the research of properties and structure of nanocatalysts, as well as on modelling of processes
involving nanocatalysts. This class also provides information on the use of nanocatalysts and compares
their performance with conventional catalysts. The class Colloidal System Engineering teaches the prop-
erties of colloids, methods of producing colloidal particles by precipitation and grinding, and the use of
colloids. Students also gain knowledge about amphiphilic systems (surfactants), liquid-liquid interfaces and
polymer-surfactant and polymer-surface interactions. In the Laboratory for the production of nanostruc-
tured materials, students get familiar with the processes for obtaining nanostructures and nanomaterials,
which constitute their practical preparation for designing nanotechnological processes. Laboratory exer-
cises include preparation of colloidal CdSe nanocrystals, spectroscopic and electrochemical characteristics
of small and high molecular organic semiconductors, characterization and stabilization of colloids, COF
(Covalent Organic Frameworks) organic porous materials, synthesis of ceramic nanoparticles by sol-gel
method, synthesis and characteristics of quantum dots, quantum graphene preparation, production of poly-
mer composites and research on the removal of heavy metal ions using hydrogels containing graphene
oxide. The class Technologies of Energy Conversion and Accumulation covers the material and functional
aspects of energy accumulation and conversion devices, with particular emphasis on electricity and the
growing role of renewable energy sources. The lectures provide information on modern energy sources, the
physicochemical foundations of galvanic, fuel and photovoltaic cells, energy conversion and accumulation
systems, while the aim of the laboratory exercises is to use the chemistry of functional materials to design
and obtain electrodes and electrolytes. As part of the lectures and laboratory practice in the class Medical
Nanotechnology, students learn theoretical and practical aspects of technologies used in the production and
identification of properties of nanotechnology products, such as medical products and drugs for modern
medicine. Within the Material Functionalization Laboratory, students conduct practical exercises on the
synthesis and characterization of Metal-Organic Framework materials, production and characterization of
nanocrystalline electrochemical metallic and composite coatings, and testing of catalysts in a formic acid
fuel cell (DFAFC). Graduates of the Nanostructured Products Engineering course have detailed knowl-
edge of the design and implementation of nanostructure manufacturing processes useful in the processing
industry and medicine. They know the processes for producing nanocatalysts, bone scaffolds, advanced
graphene materials and their derivatives. They have the ability to conduct the production processes of ad-
vanced nanostructured materials on industrial scale, design such materials and implement their production
processes.

Last but not least, it is important to note clear mutual relations between the three new areas presented
above: process intensification, digitalization and advanced materials. On the one hand, digitalization plays
a crucial role in the discovery and development of new materials, as discussed in the excellent recent

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 327
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

review by Kimmig et al. (2021). On the other hand, advanced materials and process intensification are
connected by a “Yin-Yang” relation: advanced materials help intensify chemical processes, while process
intensification methods allow manufacturing new materials with unique functionalities, as presented by
Stankiewicz and Yan (2019).

4. WAY FORWARD

Contemporary trends, significant aspects of research, education and practice as well as perspectives for
the future in chemical and biochemical engineering (C&BE) are given in the recent paper prepared by
a prominent group of scientists representing academia and industry in Europe – see Gani et al. (2020).
This multi-layered view – shown in Fig. 2 – can be very helpful to indicate important issues and provide
guidance to meet the grand challenges of this century also with respect to C&BE education. Following the
proposed multi-layer concept the authors indicated what skills and knowledge are needed for each level of
the education programme (BSc, MSc and PhD) and related their considerations to this concept.

Fig. 2. The multi-layered view of chemical and biochemical engineering – adapted with permission from
Gani et al. (2020). Copyright 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers, Elsevier B.V.

4.1. BSc and MSc teaching

Based on another recent paper Mastering digitized chemical engineering by Feise and Schaer (2021),
example contents of contemporary chemical and bio-chemical engineering courses are given in Table 1.
This can be a good starting point for further discussion, updating and modifications.

In order to emphasize the existing dilemmas and differences in approaches, let us first briefly compare
the Chemical Engineering curricula at Delft University of Technology and at the Warsaw University of
Technology.

The BSc program in the Chemical Engineering Department at TU Delft is called Molecular Science and
Technology and is schematically presented in Table 2. As one can see, the topics of the program are grouped
in 5 categories: chemistry, mathematics, physics, engineering and practicals. In the first year all classes are
common and obligatory. From the 2nd year on, next to the core topics specialisations begin and students

328 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

Table 1. Qualification framework and curricula for science-oriented chemical and bio-chemical engineering courses
(based on data given by Feise and Schaer (2021))

Content
Competences
Bachelor level, 180–210 ETCS Master level, 120-90 ETCS
– fundamentals
– processes – complex problems
Methods – systems – new scientific methods
– simulation – incomplete data
– optimization
– new products
– design studies
Design – new processes
– design requirements
– unusual design
– data evaluation
– literature studies
Evaluation – information gathering
– experimental design
– technology evaluation
– project
– application
– combining knowledge
– safety, health
– manage complexity
Engineering – environment
– self-learning
skills – economy
– responsible care
– theory vs. practice
– solutions with profound methodic skills
– interdisciplinary
– communication
– time management
– team
– study skills
Key capabilities – international collaboration
– English
– leadership
– long-life learning

can choose between materials, synthesis and engineering. An interesting part of the curriculum are the
laboratory classes: Learn to Research, where students develop practical research skills. The first semester
of the 3rd year is filled with a minor that gives students the opportunity to broaden their horizons and
explore a subject that interests them, e.g. software design, business administration, modern drug discovery,
economics, sustainability or law and management. They can also choose to take a cohesive combination
of modules at a foreign university. A well-chosen minor can help to find an optimum career direction or to
decide which Master’s programme to take after completing the BSc programme.

In Warsaw University of Technology the Chemical Engineering course at the BSc level lasts 7 semesters
(3 and half year) – there are no specializations, the teaching is carried out following the common program
(core curriculum), also shown in Table 2. This fundamental program can be supplemented by students
of Year 2 with a few chosen electives covering a wide spectrum of contemporary issues in science and
technology, which can be useful for chemical engineer – Biomechanics of Flows, Scientific and Patent
Information, Introduction to Enzymology, Natural Polymers, Safety of Chemical Reactors, Simple and
Multiple Emulsions for new Technologies, Neural Networks, Introduction to Technical Biochemistry and

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 329
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

Table 2. The BSc programs at TU Deft and WUT. Note that at TU Delft some specific topics are taught within three
specializations – Materials (sM), Synthesis (sS) and Engineering (sE)

BSc program
Name of Molecular Science and Technology Chemical Engineering
studies at Technical University Delft at Warsaw University of Technology
Group of
Year 1
subjects
Mathematics – Calculus 1 & 2 – Mathematics 1 & 2
Physics – Quantum Chemistry and Physics – Physics 1 & 2
– General Chemistry
– Organic Chemistry and Structural Anal-
Chemistry ysis – General and Inorganic Chemistry
– Chemical Analysis Methods
– Inorganic Chemistry
– Introduction to Chemical Engineering
– Chemical Thermodynamics – Fundamentals of Engineering Calcula-
Engineering
– Introduction to Chemical Engineering tions 1 & 2
– Electrotechnics and Electronics
– Lab – General Chemistry
– Lab – Basic skills – Fundamentals of Material Engineering
Practicals
– Learning to Research 1 – Informatics Technology
– Engineering graphics
Year 2
– Statistical Methods
Mathematics – Linear Algebra and Differential Equa- – Mathematics 3
tions – sM & sE
– Physics 3
Physics – Physical Chemistry and Kinetics
– Physical Chemistry
– Material Structure and Properties
– Biochemistry
– Catalysis
– Theoretical Chemistry – sM – Organic chemistry
Chemistry – Chemistry and Physics of Solids – sM – Analytical chemistry
– Organic chemistry 2 – sS
– Theoretical Chemistry – sS
– Physiological Chemistry – sS
– Biomolecular Chemistry – sS
– Process Thermodynamics
– Transport Phenomena – sM & sE
– Heat Transfer
Engineering – Separation Technologies – sE
– Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics
– Chemical Biotechnology – sE
– Quality Assurance Systems
– Numerical methods
Practicals – Learning to Research 2 – Lab – Physical chemistry
– Lab – Organic Chemistry

330 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

Table 2 [cont.]

BSc program
Name of Molecular Science and Technology Chemical Engineering
studies at Technical University Delft at Warsaw University of Technology
Group of
Year 3
subjects
– Process Kinetics – Transport Phenomena
– Fundamentals of Processes and Process
– Numerical Methods Equipment 1 & 2
– Fundamentals of Biotechnology
Engineering – Fundamentals of Environmental Protec-
tion
– Statistical Thermodynamics/ – Chemical Reaction Engineering 1
Spectroscopy – sM & sS – Introduction to CFD
– Chemical Reaction Engineering – sE – Process Automatics

– Lab – Process Thermodynamics

Practicals – Chemical Product Design – Lab – Process Kinetics
– Lab – Process Equipment
Year 4 (7th semester)
– Chemical Reaction Engineering 2
Engineering – Separation Processes
– Safety of Chemical Processes
Practicals – Industrial Processes Design

Special Media in Chemical Engineering. However, in Year 3 there are electives, which are grouped in two
specializing modules:
• Informatics in Chemical Engineering (topics: Introduction to CFD, Computers in Designing of Process
Documentation, Modelling of Dispersed Systems, Modelling of Transport Phenomena with MatLab,
Computers for Technical Drawings) and
• Chemical Engineering in Advanced Technologies (topics: Chemical Product Engineering, Microreac-
tors, Separation Methods for Pure Technologies, Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources, Integrated
Processes).

Additionally, the core program at the WUT is completed with a group of obligatory humanistic and social
classes including Economy, Philosophy, Ethics and Foreign Languages.

The Master program in Chemical Engineering at TU Delft offers two alternative tracks:
• Process Engineering and
• Chemical Product Engineering.

Both tracks share several common obligatory courses including Applied Numerical Mathematics, Molecu-
lar Thermodynamics, Molecular Transport Phenomena, Product & Process Design, Ethics & Engineering,
and a Design Project. Additionally, each of the two tracks has three track-specific obligatory modules: De-
sign & Synthesis of Advanced Chemical Products, Quantum Properties & Structure of Materials, and Soft
Matter for Chemical Products (track Chemical Product Engineering), and Process Dynamics & Control,
Applied Transport Phenomena and Reactors & Kinetics (track Process Engineering). Finally, there are
circa 25 elective courses that the MSc students of Chemical Engineering in Delft can choose from.

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 331
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

Coming back to the new teaching areas discussed in the previous section, one can see that the chemical
engineering curriculum in Delft is strong in courses related to advanced materials. Process intensification,
electrification, electrochemistry and energy storage are offered in elective courses, while elements of
digitalization are not yet a part of the program.

It needs to be mentioned that TU Delft offers the students interested in biotechnology/bioengineering

a separate BSc/MSc program called Life Science & Technology. That program is coordinated by the
Department of Biotechnology and ends with three alternative specializations: Biocatalysis, Biochemical
Engineering and Cell Factory.

The Master program at the WUT lasts 3 semesters (one and half years) and consists of four specializations:
• Industrial Processes Engineering (focus on physical and chemical phenomena taking place in industrial
processes as well as on designing and modeling of reactors and processes),
• Bioengineering (focus on modelling, designing and performing processes carried out with contribution
of microorganisms and/or biological substances),
• Dispersed Systems Engineering (focus on modelling and application of micro- and nano-dispersed
for process and environmental protection as well as for chosen issues of influence on human body as
pollutants or drug carriers), and
• Nanostructural Products Engineering (focus on modelling, designing and performing processes in
industry and/or medicine).

In all specializations students are taught some common subjects such as: Fluid Mechanics, Mathematics,
Computer Simulation, Process Dynamics, Process Optimization, CFD, Practical and Economical Aspects
of Process Design, while in each specialization dedicated obligatory and elective classes are available.

4.2. Post-MSc teaching

In the Netherlands internationally unique post-Master designer programs have been developed and practiced
for many years. Those two-year programs are offered within the framework of Stan Ackermans Institute by
Dutch universities of technology aiming to put students on a faster track to a successful career in industry.
All candidates that successfully finalize one of the programmes are awarded the degree of Professional
Doctorate in Engineering (abbreviated PDEng). Consequently, the PDEng programs are certified by the
Dutch Certification Committee for Technological Design Programs consisting of representatives from the
Universities of Technology in The Netherlands, the Council of Central Industrial Organizations in The
Netherlands and the Royal Dutch Society of Engineers. The courses offered within the above scheme
include: Bioprocess Engineering, Chemical Product Design, Energy and Process Technology, Process &
Equipment Design, and Process & Product Design. Each starts with a year of advanced education, followed
by a major design project of eight to twelve months in a company. Because of a clear industrial orientation,
the lecturers are often delivered by experts with a long industrial experience. In contrast to the BSc and
MSc students, the accepted participants of the PDEng programs have a status of university employees and
are remunerated, similarly to the doctoral candidates.

In Poland, Implementation doctorate is a new post-MSc program aiming at scientific career development.
The main goal of the program is to create conditions for the development of cooperation between the
scientific and socio-economic environments. Its main idea is the preparation of a doctoral dissertation that
will help the functioning of a given enterprise. Implementation doctorates are therefore an alternative way
of obtaining a doctoral degree, intended for people who – while developing their scientific careers – do not
want to give up their professional work outside the university.

332 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

5. SUMMARY

Based on the literature and the observed industrial developments, we indicate the most important challenges
in teaching chemical engineering and compare the respective curricula at two European universities. We
restrict ourselves to two universities where we have personal, hands-on teaching experience.

In the paper we have presented some new challenges and megatrends within the chemical and related
industries, that give rise to new teaching areas in chemical engineering curricula. Among those new
teaching areas process intensification, digitalization and advanced materials will arguably play the most
important roles in the coming decades. The three areas are interrelated with one another as digitalization
and process intensification are destined to play the crucial role in, respectively, discovery, development and
manufacturing of new materials, while new, advanced materials can be used for intensification of chemical
processes.

The aim of this paper was just to focus the attention of university teachers and prospective decision makers
on the most important challenges for contemporary teaching of chemical engineering.

We illustrated our discussion with the examples of chemical engineering taught at the BSc and MSc levels
in two universities of technology, Delft and Warsaw, pointing out on how the above new teaching areas have
been accommodated in the respective curricula. While not pretending to having resolved all the existing
teaching dilemmas, we hope that the presented experiences will trigger further discussions on that topic
within the chemical engineering community and will help arrive at curricula that will match the grand
challenges of the century.

We did not formulate any hypothesis, as we are convinced that there is no single good and universal solution
to the problem of how to follow contemporary trends in teaching. It is really impossible to say what method
(way) is better – to follow the challenges is a complex process and in fact it is a trial and error method.
Additionally, the suggested changes in curricula are rather indicative – i.e. they cannot be obligatory.

REFERENCES

Bhute V.J., Inguva P., Shah U., Brechtelsbauer C., 2021. Transforming traditional teaching laboratories for effective
remote delivery – A review. Educ. Chem. Eng., 35, 96–104. DOI: 10.1016/j.ece.2021.01.008.
Bird R.B., Stewart W.E., Lightfood E.N., 1960. Transport phenomena. J. Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, 415–421.
Christofides P. (Ed.), 2020-2021. Machine learning in process control and systems engineering. Chem. Eng. Res.
Des. Article collection available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/chemical-engineering-research-and-
design/ special-issue/10KQX9TBLMZ.
EFCE, 1999. The Bologna Process and the European higher education area. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/
education/policies/higher-education/bologna-process-and-european-higher-education-area_en.
EFCE, 2005. EFCE Bologna recommendations. Available at: www.efce.info/efce_media/Downloads/EFCE_Bolo
gna_Recom_0905.pdf
EFCE, 2010. EFCE Bologna recommendations. Available at: https://efce.info/efce_media/Downloads/wpe/2010_
EFCE_Bologna_Recommendations_final.pdf.
EFCE, 2020. EFCE Bologna recommendations 2020. Available at: https://efce.info/efce_media/Downloads/wpe/
EFCE_Bologna_Recommendations_Approved.pdf.
Elnashaie S.S., Danafar F., Rafsanjani H.H., 2015. Nanotechnology for chemical engineers. Springer, Singapore.
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-287-496-2.

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 333
 A.I. Stankiewicz, M. Henczka, E. Molga, Chem. Process Eng., 2021, 42 (4), 321–335

Feise H.J., Schaer E., 2021. Mastering digitized chemical engineering. Educ. Chem. Eng., 34, 78–86. DOI: 10.1016/
j.ece.2020.11.011.
Fernandez Rivas D., Boffito D., Faria-Albanese J., Glassey J., Afraz N., Akse H., Boodhoo K.V.K., Bos R., Cantin
J., Wai Y., Chiang E., Commenge J.-M., Dubois J.-L., Galli F., Gueneau de Mussy J.P., Harmsen J., Kalra S.,
Keil F.J, Morales-Menendez R., Navarro-Brull F.J., Noël T., Ogden K., Patience G.S., Reay D., Santos R.M.,
Smith-Schoettker A., Stankiewicz A.I., Van den Berg H., Van Gerven T., Van Gestel J., Van der Stelt M., Van de
Ven M., Weber R. S., 2020a. Process intensification education contributes to sustainable development goals. Part
1. Educ. Chem. Eng., 32, 1–14. DOI: 10.1016/j.ece.2020.04.003.
Fernandez Rivas D., Boffito D. C., Faria-Albanese J., Glassey J., Afraz N., Akse H., Boodhoo K.V.K., Bos R.,
Cantin J., Wai Y., Chiang E., Commenge J.-M., Dubois J.-L., Galli F., Gueneau de Mussy J.P., Harmsen J.,
Kalra S., Keil F.J, Morales-Menendez R., Navarro-Brull F.J., Noël T., Ogden K., Patience G.S., Reay D., Santos
R.M., Smith-Schoettker A., Stankiewicz A.I., Van den Berg H., Van Gerven T., Van Gestel J., Van der Stelt M.,
Van de Ven M., Weber R. S., 2020b. Process intensification education contributes to sustainable development
goals. Part 2, Educ. Chem. Eng., 32, 15–24. DOI: 10.1016/j.ece.2020.05.001.
Gani R., Bałdyga J., Biscans B., Brunazzi E., Charpentier J.-C., Drioli E., Feise H., Furlong A., Van Geem K.V.,
de Hemptinne J.C., ten Kate A.J.B., Kontogeorgis G.M., Manenti F., Marin G.B., Mansouri S.S., Piccione P.M.,
Povoa A., Rodrigo M.A., Sarup B., Sorensen E., Udugama I.A., Woodley J.M., 2020. A multi-layered view of chem-
ical and biochemical engineering. Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 155, A133–A145. DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2020.01.008.
Gillett J.E., 2000a. The education of chemical engineers in the third millennium. European Federation of Chem-
ical Engineering. Available at: https://efce.info/Scientific+groups/Education/Publications/Gillett_+Education+in
+ChemEng-p-432.html.
Gillett J.E., 2000b. Summary report of the chemical engineering core curriculum project 1993-94. EFCE WORKING
PARTY “EDUCATION”. Available at: https://dechema.de/efce_media/Downloads/wpe/wpe_corecurricula.pdf.
Gillett J.E., 2001. Chemical engineering education in the next century. Chem. Eng. Technol., 24, 561–570.
DOI: 10.1002/1521-4125(200106)24:6%3C561::AID-CEAT561%3E3.0.CO;2-X.
Kakkar S., Kwapinski W., Howard C.A., Kumar K.V., 2021. Deep neural networks in chemical engineering class-
rooms to accurately model adsorption equilibrium data. Educ. Chem. Eng., 36, 115–127. DOI: 10.1016/j.ece.2021.
04.003.
Kimmig J., Zechel S., Schubert U.S., 2021. Digital transformation in Materials Science: A paradigm change in
material’s development. Adv. Mater., 33, 2170058. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202170058.
Liauw M., Sainio T., Bodnar C. (Eds.), 2021. Digitalisation in Chemical Engineering Education and Training, Chem.
Eng. Res. Des. Article collection available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/education-for-chemical-
engineers/special-issue/10D130KPRKZ.
Molga E.J., 2003. Neural network approach to support modelling of chemical reactors: problems, resolutions, criteria
of application. Chem. Eng. Process. Process Intensif., 42, 675–695. DOI: 10.1016/S0255-2701(02)00205-2.
Molga E.J., van Woezik B.A.A., Westerterp K.R., 2000. Neural networks for modelling of chemical reaction
systems with complex kinetics: oxidation of 2-octanol with nitric acid. Chem. Eng. Process. Process Intensif., 39,
323–334. DOI: 10.1016/S0255-2701(99)00093-8.
Molga E.J., Westerterp K.R., 2013. Principles of chemical reaction engineering. in Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of
Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. DOI: 10.1002/14356007.b04_005.pub2.
Molzahn M., 2004. Chemical engineering education in Europe. Trends and challenges. Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 82,
1525–1532. DOI: 10.1205/cerd.82.12.1525.58032.
Pohorecki R., 2003. European Federation of Chemical Engineering: News and events. Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 81,
1406. DOI: 10.1205/cerd.81.10.1406.44733.
Pohorecki R., Szebenyi I., 1997. Chemical engineering education and training in central and eastern Europe. 1𝑠𝑡
European Congress of Chemical Engineering. Florence, Italy, 4-7 May 1997.
Stankiewicz A., Van Gerven T., Stefanidis G., 2019. Fundamentals of process intensification, Wiley-VCH, Wein-
heim.

334 https://journals.pan.pl/cpe
 Teaching chemical engineering in Europe – developments, dilemmas and practical examples

Stankiewicz A.I., Yan P., 2019. The missing link unearthed: Materials and process intensification. Ind. Eng. Chem.
Res., 58, 9212–9222. DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b01479.
Tracez J., 1994. The development of European chemical engineers. EFCE Newsletter.Chemical Technology Europe,
2, 34-37.
57. Tutzing-Symposion: 100 % digital: Überlebensstrategien für die Prozessindustrie, Veranstaltung der ProcessNet-
Fachgemeinschaft Prozess-, Apparate-, und Anlagentechnik PAAT. Tutzing, 15–18.04.2018.
Unnikrishnan S., Donovan J., Macpherson R., Tormey D., 2021. In-process analysis of pharmaceutical emulsions
using computer vision and artificial intelligence. Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 166, 281–294. DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2020.
12.010.
Van Gerven T., Stankiewicz A., 2009. Structure, energy, synergy, time – The fundamentals of process intensification.
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 48, 2465–2474. DOI: 10.1021/ie801501y.
Walker W.H., Lewis W.K., McAdams W.H., 1923. Principles of chemical engineering. McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, New York. DOI: 10.1002/jctb.5000424618.
Xiao T., Ni D., 2020. Multiscale modeling and neural network model based control of a plasma etch process. Chem.
Eng. Res. Des., 164, 113–124. DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2020.09.013.

Received 15 June 2021

Received in revised form 25 August 2021
Accepted 27 August 2021

https://journals.pan.pl/cpe 335